Mixed media- cones, wood, paper.
It’s been over three weeks since a historic post toppled over in the Mission District with no signs of repairs from San Francisco Public Works so, instead of lamenting this piece of downed history on Valencia St., a group of San Francisco residents did the next best thing and turned the downed bulletin pole into art. Complete with a temporary display, if you weren’t any wiser, you’d really think this was some real deal street art.
Check out a photo of what it looks like as of a couple days ago thanks to Redditor /user/Holiphotia.
“Post No Bills” – Artist Unknown – Mixed Media from r/sanfrancisco
Although Valencia street has enough room for a bike lane and street-side parking, if you’re in a larger vehicle like a delivery truck, making your rounds around this area is still a tight squeeze.
A box truck was merging from the sidewalk into the single lane of traffic when the rear of his cargo box hit the edge of this Victorian looking sign post. In fact, a dash cam caught the exact moment the historic sign fell over.
Post No Bills
And a few weeks later, some wise guys with an eye for public art turned this downed historic post into a piece of modern art.
I say historic because, compared to the rest of the street infrastructure, these posts look outdated for a reason. Around 2010, San Francisco commissioned artist Michael Arcega to construct four Victorian inspired bulletin posts to reflect this historic district’s past.
Since these aren’t your regular sign posts, my best guess is that the SF Art Commission is going about its repair as best it can to honor the artist’s initial intentions and not botch up the repair by mending the post too quickly.
Hopefully SF Public works doesn’t take too long because people have already added their own touches to this historic post, tagging inside the post’s crown. Also, it looks like this post is encroaching on Spin Scooter’s designated drop-off space, but I don’t think anyone really cares.
I appreciate the effort this SF residents took to turn a negative into a positive. Sure, it’ll be a while before this post get’s restored to its original glory, so why not have some fun with it.
